Top 10 vintage cassette decks

I’ve owned a great many of these (including DATs and Elcasettes(!). I currently have (and strongly recommend) the Revox B710MKII (not MKI), the Tascam 122MKII (not a MkI or MKIII) and the Studer A810. You cannot go wrong with these IF they are properly maintained. Importantly, most parts are available for these. Parts availability means problems for many SONY units and the Technics RS1500 decks. The Nakamichis are great, BUT they use a different EQ curve than all the others so forget about swapping tapes between friends. If you are buying used, you should expect some sort of repair bill no matter what the previous owner tells you - unless they can show proof of recent service. For R2R, I’m obviously partial to the Studer A810, but you should also consider a PR99 MKII or MKIV. A “sleeper” would be the Fostex E2 – if the heads are in good shape. I can suggest a few good recorder techs if interested.

I've owned various decks, but aside from an Akai and an Aiwa (sp?) the others were Nakamichi.

Of the Nak's (250/350/550/600/700ZXE) the 700ZXE was by far the best (think the 250 was payback only as I used it in my car).

This said, I also made extremely good recordings with VHS (3-head) and Sony Betamax decks.

I assume that parts for the Nakamichi's would be more readily available.

DeKay

Aiwa F990. Most underrated deck ever made. I’ve heard nothing better.

Harmon Kardon was in the mix back in the day. I have a HK 2000 in a box in my basement. I've been thinking of breaking it out. You may have given me some motivation. 

R2R - Revox/Studer

Nakamichi ZX-9, DR-10 or DR-1 

I had Nakamichi BX-150 back in the day. I currently have a Denon DRM-800A cassette deck. Both are awesome decks.

Just like R2R's find a good teck to go over what ever you end up with.

If 1 of your considerations for a cassette player is vintage quality

and a little out of the ordinary there's this Technics available 

rare 2 peace model.. 

*less 33% since its in Canadian funds.

Number one isn't in my price range. What's your top ten?

Nakamichi Dragon! The classic… incredible machine.

If memory serves...Nakamichi and Tandberg were both highly regarded.

$3500 should do it?

@artemus_5  thank you. I'll look into the Teac. 

I always used top tier Teac 3 head units. I made all my own tapes for the car and they always sounded great...of course using good tapes IE Maxell. The darker the color of the tape the better. TDK was also good

For sure @stringreen thank you for the suggestion. Pioneer. Technics?

you should be looking for a Nachamichi.   I had a 1000ii,  Should have kept it.